Sean Couturier about to get healthy scratched 34 days after being named the new Flyers' Captain

[BKarchitect]

I'm a big fan of Couturier. He'll handle it like a pro, continue to lead like a pro, and probably get his game back in order shortly.

Torts is great to have in the NHL. He's just so entertaining and makes headlines. But I'm sure glad he's not the coach of any teams I cheer for. I don't think this is the right way to handle things at all.

Love Coots, underrated in his prime for sure but after the injury and his age and war and tear - I'm not sure anybody can confidently say "he'll get his game back in order shortly".

I'm not saying Torts isn't a jerk...but it's possible he is AND Couturier is a shell of his former self.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Torts is a terrible coach. Has no ability to manage relationships. His style will have a team not bottom out with the results they could’ve got because he scares his players into giving everything every shift, but it doesn’t work and create a winner over a sustained period of time.

So he’s a terrible coach because his teams outplay expectation and don’t just go out there and shit the bed?

Torts is a coach you bring in because you want to win hockey games. If that’s a problem for a team like the Flyers, blame it on management for hiring him at that moment in time. But it’s downright ridiculous to expect him to deliberately lose games so he can get fired around the time they start putting a competitive roster together. That sort of thing is for actual loser coaches, and those guys are easily identified by which teams they’re coaching.

 

[bossram]

I totally missed that he was named captain (tho he was the obvious choice, thought it was. a matter of when not if).

Just goes to show Torts holds everyone accountable.

This. People can say what they want about Torts, but he holds players accountable in a consistent way. Everyone has to perform.

The vast majority of NHL coaches would never scratch a respected veteran like that. Double standards for young players and coaches favourites.

Torts isn't doing this. He was scratching Frost a lot earlier in the season, but he's earned his way up the lineup.

 

[banks]

Love Coots, underrated in his prime for sure but after the injury and his age and war and tear - I'm not sure anybody can confidently say "he'll get his game back in order shortly".

I'm not saying Torts isn't a jerk...but it's possible he is AND Couturier is a shell of his former self.

It's certainly been a rollercoaster for Couturier. A year ago his career was in limbo. He missed a whole season. But he came back strong at the start of this year. I'm confident he's still got gas in the tank.

He's not the same as his 30 goal 70 point years. I didn't mean to imply he'd ever reach that again. But I don't think he's totally spent. I meant that he won't stay a healthy scratch for long.

 

[BKarchitect]

It's certainly been a rollercoaster for Couturier. A year ago his career was in limbo. He missed a whole season. But he came back strong at the start of this year. I'm confident he's still got gas in the tank.

He's not the same as his 30 goal 70 point years. I didn't mean to imply he'd ever reach that again. But I don't think he's totally spent. I meant that he won't stay a healthy scratch for long.

Ok yeah it’s certainly hard to believe the Flyers have 12 forwards worth playing over him, even in a diminished state.

Like most I assume this is just Torts being Torts to send a message.

 

[Regal]

Love Coots, underrated in his prime for sure but after the injury and his age and war and tear - I'm not sure anybody can confidently say "he'll get his game back in order shortly".

I'm not saying Torts isn't a jerk...but it's possible he is AND Couturier is a shell of his former self.

He’s slow and his offensive game will probably never be back to what it was a few years ago, but every time I’ve seen him this year he’s still looked great defensively

 

[ijuka]

Torts is a terrible coach. Has no ability to manage relationships. His style will have a team not bottom out with the results they could’ve got because he scares his players into giving everything every shift, but it doesn’t work and create a winner over a sustained period of time.

Flyers are 3rd in Metro, massively outperforming their pre-season expectations. They were expected to be 7th in Metro.

 

[mr figgles]

Don‘t question Torts. There‘s a reason he has made it past the first round 3 times in the last 20 years.

 

[King'sPawn]

Sean Couturier: "I'm not ****ing going anywhere!"
Tortorella: "How dare you!"
SC: *leaves*
JT: "That's more like it."

 

[red devil]

 

[Voight]

Torts is a terrible coach. Has no ability to manage relationships. His style will have a team not bottom out with the results they could’ve got because he scares his players into giving everything every shift, but it doesn’t work and create a winner over a sustained period of time.

How on earth does this make him a terrible coach?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Don‘t question Torts. There‘s a reason he has made it past the first round 3 times in the last 20 years.

2012, 2013, 2019, 2020?

And that 20 years carefully cuts off consecutive division titles, a conference title, and a Cup win.

 

[Winston Wolf]

Couturier missed a year and a half and honestly looked much better than expectations to start the year. Obviously with his injury history most would assume the coach would practice load management, but instead Tortorella played him 20+ minutes in 24 of their first 50 games. He's slowed down as the season has gone on, but he's unequivocally still one of the Flyers' top 5 forwards at the moment.

This is just Tortorella being a jackass and playing mind games.

 

[vancityluongo]

no issues whatsoever with scratching the captain and holding everyone equally accountable, but clearly torts falls short in his communications when this is what the couturier says to the media

big difference in doing something like this as a motivational tool vs just flexing his authority as a jackass

 

[mr figgles]

2012, 2013, 2019, 2020?

And that 20 years carefully cuts off consecutive division titles, a conference title, and a Cup win.

In 20 his team won in the preliminary round. Yes, it cuts off anything prior to 20 years. That’s kinda the point. He hasn’t done shit in 20 years. What good is a cup win from 20 years ago?

 

[zizbuka]

Maybe Couturier has family attending the game...........

 

[Chainshot]

I'm most curious to see if it works or not. Does this push the buttons on the rest of the team to come out ready and fired up or not?

 

[pekka55]

Really dumb to name a guy Captain, then scratch him right away.

What do you mean? This only builds team cohesion.

I mean I usually like Torts, but not every old school tactic is that great. Torts should bench himself from time to time if he really was all about being a tough guy. I mean when's the last time Torts won anything?

 

[tarheelhockey]

In 20 his team won in the preliminary round. Yes, it cuts off anything prior to 20 years. That’s kinda the point. He hasn’t done shit in 20 years. What good is a cup win from 20 years ago?

Preliminary round is playoffs, per the NHL officially, and per common sense that it was a playoff round.

Only 6 current coaches have a Cup ring. Torts is one of them. He’s also 3rd among active coaches (and 9th all time) in career wins. He’s easily, easily in the top tier among active coaches as a proven winner regardless whether you’re talking regular season or playoffs. He’s abrasive, he has a shelf life, but he’s well past the point of comparison with about 80% of the coaches in the NHL and for that matter pro hockey as a whole.

 

[thekernel]

I don't wanna hear the Torts slander. Look at the roster he has and they're in the playoffs plus top-10 in xGF%.

Does he get a weird hair up his ass with certain players? Definitely. Does he similarly develop a fetish for really bad players? Yes.

Every coach does that, though. The guy knows how to get results.

I can't believe we live in an era where people are using goals that don't exist to argue that someone is "getting results". I can't think of a more backwards way to quantify success lol

 

[izzy]

I don't wanna hear the Torts slander. Look at the roster he has and they're in the playoffs plus top-10 in xGF%.

Does he get a weird hair up his ass with certain players? Definitely. Does he similarly develop a fetish for really bad players? Yes.

Every coach does that, though. The guy knows how to get results.

Yeah not sure how they are winning at all with that roster lmao

I can't believe we live in an era where people are using goals that don't exist to argue that someone is "getting results". I can't think of a more backwards way to quantify success lol

ok then he actually is getting results, and probably has the worst roster on paper of the current playoff teams

 

[Machinehead]

I can't believe we live in an era where people are using goals that don't exist to argue that someone is "getting results". I can't think of a more backwards way to quantify success lol

They're winning games too.

People just don't like xG because it's math and sometimes it says something they don't want to hear.

If you have any concept of "puck luck" which 99% of hockey fans do, you already pretty much understand what expected goals are.

 

[Rich Nixon]

So he’s a terrible coach because his teams outplay expectation and don’t just go out there and shit the bed?

Torts is a coach you bring in because you want to win hockey games. If that’s a problem for a team like the Flyers, blame it on management for hiring him at that moment in time. But it’s downright ridiculous to expect him to deliberately lose games so he can get fired around the time they start putting a competitive roster together. That sort of thing is for actual loser coaches, and those guys are easily identified by which teams they’re coaching.

Yeah, I wouldn't say any of it makes him a terrible coach—in the traditional sense.

But Torts' practices benefit only Torts in the long run. He can get mediocre rosters into the playoffs, but they do so with wildly unsustainable trends that limit them from actually competing once there.

Hell, the whole reason they're so thoroughly f***ed on defense right now is that "just block 25 shots a game" has their defense in tatters—significant injuries here, "maintenance days" galore over there.

It also isn't a coincidence that Torts-coached teams often have the worst PP in the league. The Rangers did for a season or two under his watch, the Blue Jackets did in his time there, the Flyers are in 32nd on the PP for the second year in a row.

Part of it is talent, but a big part of it is that he offloads responsibility for it to an incompetent assistant and then absolves himself. Even though it happens under his watch everywhere. But he's not interested in that aspect of the game or taking any heat for it—and if his teams had moderately competent PP production, they'd often increase their scoring and elevate their playoff positioning in not-insignificant ways.

As far as head coaches go, he's the limbo man. Teams with the elite talent you need to win a Cup aren't going to hire him for fear of alienating/tarnishing that talent. Teams without that talent will hire him to get more out of the spare parts they have, but that pushes them into no-man's land. Along the way, he'll piss some players off, win more games than he should, and ultimately his tenure will end with him losing the team like every other coach does eventually.

He's kind of just a waste of time. It's the Torts show, where everyone slobs on how great it is that he turned a scrappy band of 3rd liners into first round mincemeat, but the organization itself ends up just spinning its wheels during his tenure and for years after.

 

[pekka55]

Yeah, Torts is getting so much p***y and results that even Brad Pitt would be jealous. He's a mans man. He's got one cup 20 years ago and then a lot of nothing.

If he held himself to the same standards as his players, then he'd resign.

 

[Roksta]

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